As Senior Vice President of Brand Strategy at Lowes Foods, Heather has been instrumental in renewing the company’s direction and transforming the Lowes Foods brand. She will share insights on the powerful brand transformation that the regional grocer has experienced in the last few years. In this session she will focus on the impact of “small data” obtained through profound conversations with shoppers in the intimacy of their home. Heather will also speak to the importance of reading beyond big data to understand key emotional drivers that influence shopper behavior and will shape the future of retail.

André leads insights and analytics at Google for some of the world’s top CPG food and beverage companies, where he is responsible for delivering insights into areas such as industry trends, product development, and advertising effectiveness. During his session, he will give  actionable insights into how brands and retailers can embrace, create for, and benefit from the world of digital assistants.

Geoff Ramsey is on the cutting edge of consumer trends and marketing best practices in a digital, multichannel world. As chief content officer and co-founder of eMarketer, Ramsey has rich insights and a big-picture perspective of how consumers spend their time and money, and how marketers are striving to reach them. At the Analytics Forum, Geoff will lead a high-energy, information-packed session providing a 30,000-foot view of ecommerce and mcommerce trends.

Chris Kocher is a 30-year veteran of Silicon Valley and multiple innovation and investment cycles. No matter what business you’re in, Amazon may disrupt your markets, affect your supply chain, shake up your industry and most importantly, reshape your customer’s perceptions. In his session, Chris will discuss Amazon’s current initiatives in retail, prescription drugs/healthcare, private labels and advertising.

John Ross, President & CEO IGA Inc., is responsible for domestic and global operations for IGA, the world’s largest independent supermarket network with nearly 6,000 IGA supermarkets in more than 30 countries worldwide.He is the co-author of the Google Book ZMOT: Zero Moment of Truth, and author of the recently-published Fire in the Zoo, a book about shopper influence, marketing mania, retailer chaos, advertising pitfalls, consumer confidence, converting customers and how screaming at people usually doesn’t work.

Ken leads Henkel N.A. efforts to drive consistent yet nuanced and personalized messages from media to shelf through the Media, Digital, Shopper, Promotions, Merchandising & Consumer Call Center teams. In his session, he’ll be digging deeper on the implications of new communication technologies on organizational structure, customer journeys, and using data in new ways for personalization.

Allen Nance is CMO at Emarsys, and is an accomplished entrepreneur, investor, and marketing technologist. In his session at the Analytics Forum, he’s laying out 5 marketing predictions for the next 5 years.

John Linehan has over thirty years of leadership experience in consumer goods and related industries. In this talk, John Linehan will share thoughts on how to conduct simple strategic plans that will have a big impact on results.

Raina Haque’s practice and teaching areas focus on computational law & emergent technologies. In her session, she will give an overview of blockchain/distributed ledger technology and give context in the retail space.

Throughout his academic career, Dr. Camm has focused on the use of analytics for solving significant real problems. He’ll discuss visualizing data for the board room, calling on his experience working with Procter & Gamble, General Electric, and more.